Yanks send a slew of players to camp on Tuesday

There are only two weeks left until the Yankees break camp to open the regular season against Houston, so it stood to reason they were going to have to start paring down the amount of players in big league camp.

Tuesday, they did that.

Twelve players were shipped from big league camp to the minor league complex. They are:

Gordon has a shot to be a closer, although I think Montgomery should be in the mix there (but that’s a column for another day).*

Corban Joseph has a shot to see some time at second and first. I really like his game, and had he not gotten hurt, I thought he was primed for a big second half last season. But we’ll see if he can get any consistent time at one position.

*I know the Yankees’ philosophy on naming young pitchers as closers in the upper levels of the minors, and I respect it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it doesn’t make sense to do that, and I don’t believe they’ll do it this time. But I have a theory, and the bosses want columns. So, I may just write about it while in Tampa later this week.

The very possible

Coello
Flores
Pirela

Coello has good stuff, at least in the little I’ve seen of him in the minors over the years. He had a terrible spring, though. I thought he might have a spot locked up in Triple-A at the start of the spring, but that’s going to be a crowded spot and right now, I’m just not sure he won’t go to Trenton.

I’m not sure either Austin or Slade Heathcott will be able to start the season on an active roster anywhere (it’s looking less and less likely). But Flores is healthy, and if there’s one position where there will be spots open in Triple-A, it’s in the outfield. Hey, somebody is going to have to play out there, and Flores certainly has a shot.

I don’t know what to think about Pirela, honestly. I thought he had a legit shot to make the Triple-A roster last year, and I was told he was going to be on it at one point, in fact. But he went back to Trenton and played only a handful of games in Triple-A all season. The guy can hit. But he’s such a bad defender, he’s going to have a difficult time making the jump to a league that is more competitive for roster spots.

Baseball isn't limited to box scores and game stories, and neither is baseball news. Stay in the know with insight, breaking news and other RailRiders nuggets from Times-Tribune beat writer Donnie Collins. He'll check in regularly with transactions, game-day information and more than a few opinions.